


Rotor Ride

by mallaidh (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ereri Week, M/M, Prompt Fic, ereriweek2015, summer job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 10:07:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4056037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/mallaidh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Ereri Week 2015 - Day 2, Summer Job<br/>-<br/>Levi is a trainee EMT at a fairground. Everything is monotonous and boring until some bright-eyed idiot decides to violate the safety regulations by goofing off on one of the fairground rides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rotor Ride

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I really wanted to take part in Ereri week this year, but I just didn't have the time and I only managed to fill one prompt. I'm kinda disappointed, but hopefully I'll take part again next year!
> 
> For anyone who isn't familiar with the Rotor Ride, here is a video: https://youtu.be/Or0IFpRSTjM

Working as a trainee EMT at the local theme park wasn't Levi's ideal summer job, but he desperately needed the experience in order to receive a place in the Emergency First Aid course in the local community college. He was forced to put up with screaming children and snotty teenagers and irate adults on a daily basis, and to deal with the too sweet scent of candy corn and cotton candy clinging to the air all day.

On top of that, working as an EMT at a shitty theme park meant that he came across some pretty fucking stupid people. One guy had caught his foot under the door of the bathroom and accidentally broken three of his toes. A girl had tried to take a selfie on one of the roller coasters only to drop it going upside down on the loop - it landed on her when the car went upright again and gave her a pretty bad black eye and a slight concussion. Another guy had dislocated his shoulder playing one of the strongman Test-Your-Strength games, much to his date's amusement.

It was exhausting, dealing with so many idiotic injuries and having to bite his tongue to prevent himself from making any snide comments that might lose him his job. He had to take several walks around the theme park every day just to keep himself calm. Without fail, he always found himself ending his walk at the ride Hanji supervised.

Today, he could see his friend from a distance as she hopped around outside the ride, waving her arms and yelling in some bizarre manner. Levi had a feeling Hanji was trying to attract customers onto the ride, but her antics seemed to be having the opposite effect. But that could have been the ride itself, which made Levi wince just thinking about riding it. It was a death trap, honestly - people actually _paid_ to stand around in a big circle against the walls of the stupid ride so that it could spin and spin until their bodies stuck to the walls with the G-force, and the fucking _floor_ drops from beneath their feet so they're suspended in fucking _midair_ while stuck to the walls. Anyone who didn't want to ride it could pay $3 to climb some rickety stairs and watch from above on the balcony type thing the ride was operated from. It was a fucking nightmare, and Levi couldn't see the appeal anywhere.

"Does anyone even go on this piece of shit?" He asked once he had come into Hanji's range of hearing.

Hanji spun around and beamed at the sound of his voice, but the smile faded somewhat when she considered his question. "Not too many, to be honest."

"What a fucking surprise."

Ignoring Levi's grumpy tone, Hanji trotted back over to the ticket booth and sat down heavily. She groped around in her pockets for a few seconds, before pulling out a beaten and defeated-looking pack of chewing gum. She brandished it towards Levi and raised an eyebrow. "Gum?"

"That's disgusting. How long has that been in your pocket?" He asked, wrinkling his nose. Hanji's shrug was not his desired answer. "You're gross."

"Whatever." She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. "How's the EMT work going?"

"Fine, I guess." Levi muttered, taking a seat on the spare chair next to Hanji's ticket booth. "It's not exactly what I want to be doing with my summer, but I can't get into this course to become a Paramedic without having previous experience working as an EMT."

Hanji nodded sympathetically and blew a bubble with her gum, ignoring Levi's glare when it popped with a loud noise. "It's just a stepping stone, pal. Summer doesn't last forever, anyway."

"Yeah..." Levi opened his mouth to say more, but Hanji had jumped to her feet quite abruptly and he barely had time to dodge a flailing fist.

"Customers!" She squealed, leaning out and beaming at a group of teenagers who had just come up to the ticket booth. "How can I help you?"

"Uh, hey." The guy that spoke was freckled and baby-faced, and he smiled sweetly at Hanji. "We have day passes. Could we go on-?"

"Yes!" Hanji nodded emphatically before the guy had finished his sentence. Her wide grin was visibly freaking the guy out, but he smiled politely and thanked her as he and his friends crammed into the ride. She whirled around to face Levi as the teenagers filed into the circular room of the ride, grinning. "Do you wanna go up to the balcony and watch them spin?"

"Why the fuck would I want to do that?"

"Please! It'll be so much fun! I haven't had people come to this ride in so long!"

"I don't-"

"Come on!" Hanji ignored the rest of his protests and dragged him up the shitty metal stairs. They creaked ominously, and Levi quickened his step out of fear that they might collapse with his weight. Hanji mistook his hurry for enthusiasm and cheered. When they got to the top, she ran over to the edge of the balcony and hung over the rickety railing to shout down at the teens. "Hey guys! You ready?"

Levi's furious _"Get away from the railing before you fall over, you stupid fuck-"_ was lost amidst the whoops from the kids below, and Hanji beamed as she bounced over to the controls. Resigned to watching these random shitty teenagers spin until they puked, Levi stood near the railing (without touching it, because it was so filthy that Levi had initially mistaken the dirt for dark paint).  
The teenagers were obviously a fairly close group of friends, because they joked and pushed each other around familiarly. When Hanji had shouted, they all rushed to secure their place against the wall and waited, grinning eagerly as she called out the safety instructions.

When the routine safety precautions had been read out, Hanji pulled the lever and the ride started to move. Levi could feel the whole structure shift and creak as the machinery got going, and he eyed the ride mistrustfully. "You sure this is safe?"

"Of course!" Hanji grinned, watching the teenagers below. A tall, tanned girl was gripping the hand of a smaller blonde tightly and hollering in delight as the amusement sped up. "Look how much they're enjoying themselves! Just listen to how happy they sound!"

All Levi could hear was lots of screaming. "...right." He muttered, glancing away. He was starting to feel dizzy staring at the spinning kids.

"Wait, Levi, look! The floor's about to drop! This is my favourite part!" Hanji was squealing as she practically threw herself over the railing to get a better look. Sighing, Levi wrenched her back and stepped closer to the edge. The ride was spinning so fast at this point that the teenagers were mere blurred smudges against the moving walls; in the next instant, the floor dropped from under their feet. Held in one place from the sheer G-force of the ride, their screams were ripped from their lips and carried out into the caramel-apple-scented air.

"Can't believe they _paid_ for this shit." Levi muttered to himself. Despite his complaining, he was transfixed by the sight. It looked absolutely sickening.  
Eventually, the floor was returned under their feet and the ride slowed to a stop.

Hanji flew down the stairs and flung open the door to the ride, beaming in delight. Levi followed at a more sedate pace and stood to the side as she asked "Did you guys enjoy yourselves?"

Her question was met with mixed opinions; one girl with a ponytail bounced out laughing and waving her arms, proclaiming it the best ride in the whole park. She was closely followed by a guy with blond hair who stumbled over to a trashcan and promptly started puking.  
Hanji gave Levi a glance, as if to see if he were going to go and help the kid out. He just raised an eyebrow at her; he was not going anywhere near any vomiting brats.  
The two girls that had been holding hands tripped out the door next, supporting each other and giggling. Then came one more girl and two guys. One of the guys, a kid with brown hair and tanned skin, was grinned from ear to ear and talking about how 'awesome' the ride had been.

"Un-fucking-believable." Levi rolled his eyes and yawned - he had been working since 6am that morning, and it was getting close to 4pm and he was running on minimum sleep. He figured now was as good a time as any to go on his lunch break. "I'm gonna go back upstairs."

Hanji glanced at him with a grin. "I'll be up in a minute! You want me to bring you up a bottle of water?"

"Yeah, thanks." He muttered, turning and retreating back up the deteriorating metal stairs. At the top, he realised that it hadn't been the best idea; there was nowhere to sit, and the floor looked _filthy_. He resigned himself to standing near the railing and waiting impatiently for Hanji to return.

It took a couple of minutes, but then Hanji's head appeared as she hurtled up the stairs. A wide beam was almost threatening to split her face in two, and she was giggling. "They want to go again!"

"Huh?" Levi turned to see what she was pointing at. Below them, several of the teenagers were trailing onto the ride again, grinning eagerly. "Are you fucking serious? Stupid fucking kids."

"They're only three years younger than us, I asked." Hanji commented, ignoring Levi's irritated mumbling.  
A few of their friends were missing, but the boy with the stupid blond and brown that had been puking in the trashcan was present, looking extremely queasy. "Uh. Is it a good idea to let that guy on again?"

Hanji just flapped a hand. "Oh, it's fine."

 _She is going to get her ass fired,_ thought Levi as he observed the gang below. They had lined up all around the walls, and the dark haired guy who had been whooping the first time was teasing the Vomit Kid for upchucking the contents of his stomach.

Vomit Kid whirled on him, furious. "Fuck you, Jaeger! You didn't eat as much as I ate today!" He grew progressively redder and angrier as the 'Jaeger' kid laughed. "Whatever. It's not like it's easy to stay unaffected by this fucking spinning death trap!" Levi had to sympathise with him there.

"It was for me!"

"Oh yeah? Well if it's so easy, I double-dog-dare you to do a handstand while it spins!"

The entire group went silent, staring at the two guys in a kind of begrudging interest - Levi got the impression that these little spats occurred often between the two. After a moment, a kid with a shaved head spoke up. "Shit. You can't back down from a double-dog-dare, man."

Levi was so enraptured by the exchange below that he missed Hanji calling him and throwing a bottle of water. It nailed him right in the side of the face, and he gave a startled hiss of pain and fumbled to catch it. "Fucking shit-!"

"Ready?" Hanji shouted over the railing without looking at the people riding it.

The group called back their affirmatives, and Levi glanced back down out of morbid curiosity - and then nearly had a fucking heart attack because _Jesus Christ that stupid fuck was actually doing a fucking handstand_. "Holy shi- Fucking get down before you kill yourself, you shitty piece of- Hanji, don't start the-!"

Too late. Hanji had already pulled the lever, and was turning around to frown at Levi in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Fuck." Levi breathed, turning back to look down into the ride; the stupid wankstain was holding himself up by his hands, his back and legs pressed against the walls. The ride was beginning to pick up speed, and soon he'd be stuck to the walls with the pressure, but at that moment his arms were trembling slightly from exertion. The idiotic shit - Jaeger, or whatever the fuck Vomit Kid had called him - was facing outwards, so even as he spun Levi could see the massive fucking grin on his face. And then the floor went down, and he was spinning upside down in midair. Even from where Levi was standing above, he could see the guy's face steadily turning red as all the blood rushed to his head. "Fuck. That is against the regulations."

Hanji had finally wandered over to see what Levi was gawking at. She gasped, hands flying to her mouth as she caught sight of her customers. "What the- oh my god, I could be fired if anyone sees him doing that!" She leaned over the railing and yelled, "Hey, get the fuck down!"

"He can't." Levi muttered, watching as the idiot and all his friends burst into laughter. The group was plastered to the walls, snorting and guffawing at their upside-down friend. "He'll be stuck against the wall until the ride slows and he drops down."

Hanji glanced over her shoulder surreptitiously to ensure that no one was coming up the stairs. "As long as no one sees, no one will know that we kinda neglected our duties in enforcing the safety regulations!"

" _We?_ "

Her smile faltered. "Um.. I meant me."

The ride eventually began to slow, and Levi and Hanji both relaxed - there had been no accidents, despite the horrendous breach in health and safety regulations. Alas, they had relaxed too soon.  
The floor had returned to its original position, but when the speed had dropped, there was no pressure keeping the kids pressed to the wall. And so the idiot promptly crashed to the ground with a scream.

Even from up above, Levi could hear the snap of a bone. He cursed loudly and stomped down the stairs. The ride had come to a stop by the time he threw the door open, and he raced inside and made his way purposefully over to the moaning pile of safety-regulation-ignoring _shit_ , who was struggling to sit up. "Stay still." Levi snapped, pulling his First Aid kit out of his backpack. "Jesus Christ, you stupid fuck. What the hell were you thinking?"

"It.." The Jaeger kid was red-faced and panting from pain and exertion, "it.. was a double-dog-dare."

 _oh my god_. Levi clenched his jaw and bit his tongue to hold back the stream of curses on the tip of his tongue.

"Eren! Holy shit.. That was _awesome!_ "

They were all idiots. Levi took a deep breath and examined "Eren's" arm. It was bent at a weird angle, obviously broken. "You're gonna have to go to the hospital for this."

Vomit Kid laughed behind them. "This is the best thing that's happened all day. Someone get Mikasa before she freaks the fuck out."

Eren glanced up to glare at Vomit Kid, and Levi couldn't help the irritated sigh that escaped him when he caught sight of the blood spattered all over the guy's face. "You broke your fucking nose, too."

"Yeah, it hurts like a _motherfucker_." He winced, touching the tender bloody area around his face with his good arm. "Shit."

The kid's demeanour was surprisingly calm given the fact that he had just violated the sanctity of several safety regulations and broken his nose and his arm in front of all his friends in a fairground. "I take it this shit happens all the time to you, then."

Eren glanced up to reply and Levi nearly stopped breathing. All he could see were really _really_ bright eyes, a pretty green/blue/turquoisey colour and Levi really wasn't all that poetic or good with words but holy shit he could drown in those eyes, even though they were watery from unshed tears of pain. The blood smeared all across the guy's face ruined the effect a bit, but the tanned skin and messy brown hair was so endearing and cute that Levi had a hard time focusing on keeping his train of thought on track. Then he realised that Eren was staring back at him with his mouth slightly open, and they had just been looking at each other for a long moment in total silence.

"Eren!" A dark-haired girl pushed her way through the crowd of Eren's friends that had gathered behind them and fell to her knees beside him. "What the hell happened!"

Levi was partly relieved that the girl had shoved some space between them, as it gave him a chance to lean back and get his thoughts back in order. Hanji was hovering behind him, peeking over his shoulder and trying to get a glimpse of Eren's injuries. "Oh, his arm definitely shouldn't be bending that way."

"Yes, thanks for you excellent fucking medical expertise."  
Levi snapped back irritably, before turning back and edging closer. He focused on the stupidly bright-eyed guy in front of him without meeting his gaze and said, "I'm going to put it in a sling just to support it for now, but you're going to want to go to the hospital."

"Yeah. Hey, you really don't look old enough to be a paramedic."

"I'm not a paramedic." Levi grumbled, pulling gauze out of his medical kit. "And I'm twenty-two."

"Whoa, really?" Eren asked, at the same time that the dark-haired girl turned around and said "What do you mean you're not a paramedic? Are you even qualified to treat his injuries?"

"Yes." Levi ground out, and then proceeded to mostly tune them both out. Eren fell silent, although a pained whimper escaped his lips once or twice as Levi wrapped the sling around his neck and gently placed his broken arm into it for support. "It feels like a pretty clean break. Shouldn't be too bad. But if I _ever_ see you pull some stupid ass stunt like that, I swear I'll-"

"What about his nose?" Hanji interrupted what was likely going to end up being a death threat.

"Nothing I can do about that." Levi muttered, reaching out and wiping a bit of blood that had dripped onto Eren's lips. It was only when he caught sight of those bright eyes widening that he realised what he was doing, and he whipped his arm back to his side so fast he nearly knocked over his medical kit. His face was pink, he was sure of it, and so he made a point of avoiding Hanji's stare. No one else seemed to have noticed, but Levi still cleared his throat in a weak attempt to diffuse some of the awkwardness. "You should get to the hospital."

"Um.. yeah." Eren was staring at him, ocean-coloured eyes clashing drastically with the fresh red blood smearing his nose and cheeks. "Yeah, I should."

"I'll take him." The dark-haired girl said, looking resigned and worried.

Nodding, Levi stood and took a step back as Eren's friend helped him to his feet. Once he was sure that the idiot wasn't going to collapse and smack his head or something, Levi stepped back and turned to Hanji with a small sigh. "I'm going to take a break now, I think."

Hanji bit her lip, unsuccessfully trying to hold back her giggles. "You're blushing."

"No I'm not, shut the fuck up." He turned back around and glared at the teenagers still standing around, "Get off the fucking ride!"

They scattered, until it was just Eren being helped off by the dark-haired girl. He was protesting that he didn't need her assistance, but he seemed glad of it anyway. Levi and Hanji followed after them, and Levi tried his best to pretend like he wasn't staring at Eren's ass, because that would be wholly inappropriate. Judging by Hanji's stupid-ass wide grin, he was failing. Miserably.

Hanji shut the door of the ride behind them, and turned to smile sheepishly at the dark-haired girl. "Do you mind if I give you some injury liability forms to fill out? It's just for insurance purposes.."

As the dark-haired girl moved to follow Hanji, Eren turned to face Levi. Despite the bright gaze boring into him, Levi stubbornly pretended he didn't notice the staring until Eren spoke. "Um.. Can I get your number?"

Levi's heart jumped. He swallowed thickly and nodded. The huge beam that broke across Eren's face was like a sunrise, and Levi just stared at him as he dug around his pockets with his uninjured arm and handed him the phone. Levi took the phone and entered his number, fighting back a blush the entire time - he couldn't let Hanji or any of Eren's shitty friends see him blushing like a ten-year-old with a crush. "There you go."

The first thing Eren did after taking the phone back was check the contact name. "Levi," he beamed, looking up and causing Levi's breath to catch in his throat. "That's a nice name. It suits you."

"Christ," Levi huffed in amusement and shook his head, trying to seem cooler and more collected than he felt, "You just broke your arm and your nose and here you are flirting with the EMT."

A laugh bubbled out of Eren's mouth, loud and delighted and bright, and it was difficult to remember that this guy was actually suffering from broken bones and had to have been in a lot of pain. "It's not everyday such a hot EMT tends to your injuries."

The dark-haired girl came back then, distracting Eren from the way Levi's cheeks went bright pink. Unfortunately, Hanji still noticed. Levi was subjected to several not-so-gentle nudges and pinches and hissed questions, which he ignored. The girl led Eren away and his friends followed, whooping and laughing and poking fun at Eren's expense. Idiots. But then Eren turned back just before the group was swallowed into the crowd of carnival-goers and gave Levi a tentative wave and a bright smile, and Levi felt a smile tug the corners of his lips as he waved slightly in return.

"Oh my god. That is the cutest thing." Hanji clutched at her chest dramatically.

"Shut up."

"What did he say? Tell me you asked him out! You totally liked him, and he was definitely looking right back at you-"

"None of your business, you shit."

And if Eren sent him photos of himself with the new cast on his arm later on that evening with the caption ' _the nurse at the hospital wasn't as cute as the EMT at the fairground_ ', that wasn't any of Hanji's business either.

It also wasn't Hanji's business when they met for coffee on a Saturday afternoon either, when Eren had insisted on Levi signing his cast.

Eren forcing Levi to go on the death trap of a ride Hanji operated (he thought it would be _romantic_ because that was where they had first met) wasn't any of her business either, but she still laughed until she cried as she watched the pair spin. Eren's arm and nose had long since healed, but Levi was clutching his hand so tight it looked as though he were about to break some more bones.

It wasn't any of Hanji's business, but she was Levi's best friend and he told her anyway, and she listened and smiled fondly because she hadn't seen her friend so happy in a long time. And then she made a stupid and inappropriate joke, and Levi rolled his eyes and told her to shut up and everything was good.


End file.
